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uniform code of regulations for the metropolis was desirable; and
(4) That the Society should undertake the framing of such a code.
At the request of the Council of the Society, to which the matter
was referred, I drafted a code. This draft code, with slight
alterations, was adopted by the Society, and in May, 1879, the
Model Regulations were published "for the guidance of Urban
Sanitary Authorities."Your Vestry, finding that the Acts were
carried out in but very few places, resolved that it was not expedient,
at that time (July, 1879) to proceed any further in the
matter. In a Presidential Address to the Society of Medical
Officers of Health, delivered in October, 1883, I again drew
attention to the Acts, and urged the desirability of their being put
in force. This address was printed and widely circulated by the
Society. In November, of the same year, your Yestry resolved,
unanimously, to take steps for carrying out the provisions of the
Acts, and at once set to work to frame regulations. In the
following month, December, 1883, the Local Government Board,
exercising the power conferred by section 47 of the Sanitary
Law Amendment Act, 1874, declared the enactment contained in
section 35 of the Sanitary Act, 1866, to be in force in every
district of the metropolis, the Authority of which had not
previously made application to the Board for powers to enable
them to make regulations. Early in 1884 your Vestry made
regulations which, with modifications suggested by the Board,
were confirmed by the President in January, 1885, and are now
in force. Under these regulations about 1800 houses have been
placed upon the register, and the process of registration is still in
progress, as time and opportunity permit.
The announcement of your Yestry's intention to register
houses, proved distasteful to many "landlords," some of whom,
complying with your Vestry's invitation, "stated in writing
reasons why the house should not be registered;" but almost
without exception, the "reason" stated amounted to no more
than an "objection" to registration altogether; an objection
based usually, on a mistaken supposition that by registration the